While it has all
but vanished from the mainstream press, the nuclear crisis in Japan
has escalated. The leaked radiation may be affecting the health of
populations as far afield as North America. What makes this disaster
all the more horrifying is how easily it could have been prevented.
This is a crisis created by capitalism.
The 9.0 earthquake
that hit Japan on March 11 caused a tsunami that severely damaged the
Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, causing it to leak dangerous
radiation. The government evacuated the 12- mile area that surrounds
the plant. Residents of areas 13 to 18 miles around the plant were
subject to a “voluntary” evacuation—those who had the means to
leave could, those who did not were abandoned.
Japan’s Nuclear Emergency Response
Headquarters finally admitted in June that reactors 1, 2 and 3 at the
Fukushima plant experienced full meltdowns. It is now acknowledged
that the accident probably released more radioactive material into
the environment than Chernobyl, making it the worst nuclear accident
on record. (Al Jazeera, June 16)
A nuclear waste advisor to the Japanese government reported that
about 966 square kilometers near the power station is now probably
uninhabitable.
The three reactors
that are now known to have melted down each have two units to contain
and isolate the nuclear material. One reactor core has melted through
the first containment unit and now threatens to melt through the
second. If this happens, the land itself will be radiated. This would
represent an unprecedented ecological threat, the full effects of
which are currently unknown to science.
The evacuated
areas may not be able to be repopulated for decades. The displacement
of so many residents of Fukushima province has created a new brand of
prejudice within the country. Although radiation is not transferable
from human to human, there are rumors circulating that the refugees
are “radioactive” and thus spread disease.
As far away as the
northwestern United States, there has been a 35 percent increase in
the infant mortality rate since immediately after the meltdowns. (Al
Jazeera, June 16)
Doctors Janette D. Sherman and Joseph Mangano theorize that the spike
is due to an increase in radioactive isotopes in the air, carried on
the wind across the Pacific. This is a disaster not just for Japan
but for workers and their families elsewhere.
Japanese
government, capitalists lied about crisis
The Fukushima
Daiichi plant is owned by Tokyo Electric Power Company, better known
as Tepco. The company has a history of coverups and fabrications
going back at least to 2002 but has never been held accountable by
the Japanese government.
After the tsunami,
Tepco claimed that the three damaged reactors had undergone “partial
meltdowns.” Tepco knew, however, that the meltdowns had been total
and that the amount of radiation leaked into the environment was many
times what they reported. The Japanese government learned the truth
within days of the disaster but conspired with the corporation to
keep the truth from the public. Not until May 24 did Tepco
acknowledge the full extent of the disaster.
Radiation spread
far wider than was acknowledged. Many people exposed to dangerous
levels of radiation were misinformed by the media that they were
safe. Thus, thousands of people suffered months of unnecessary
exposure.
Then, on June 9,
Toshio Kimura, a former Tepco engineer who had worked at the
Fukushima plant, revealed that he had told his superiors that the
plant as currently built could not withstand a tsunami. Kimura claims
that when he advised the company to move the emergency diesel
generators above the tsunami level to avoid a potential meltdown he
was told that he was right about the vulnerability of the plant but
that the preventative measure would cost too much money.
The crisis, then, was technologically preventable. The profit motive
made it inevitable.
New stage in
struggle against nuclear power
The Japanese
people have resisted nuclear power ever since Western capitalists
started building nuclear power plants in the country after the U.S.
occupation. However, the crisis and coverup have changed the tone of
the Japanese anti-nuclear movement. In cities throughout Japan, major
protests demand not only the weaning of the country off of nuclear
energy, but also that companies like Tepco and the government that
allows them to ignore the will and safety of the people be held
accountable.
These expressions
of popular rage have already made their mark. The government has
issued a freeze on the building of any more nuclear power plants in
the country in an effort to allay the anger. A capitalist government
like that of Japan, however, will never turn on the class it
represents. A law now being proposed in the Japanese parliament would
create a fund, supported in part by the taxpayers, to help Tepco pay
its legal fees and keep the company afloat.
Under capitalism,
decisions are made by the capitalist class and carried out by a state
that represents their interests. The health of the people and the
environment are not factors in those decisions. Eventually, the
people’s demand for a healthy world and capitalism’s voracious
drive for profit will no longer be able to coexist.
